Lipoxygenase is an enzyme that catalyzes the oxygenation of linoleic acid and produces a hydroperoxide. It is classified in Enzyme Nomenclature as EC 1.13.11.12. The enzyme is widely distributed in plants and animals. Encoding genes have been isolated from various sources, and the sequences have been published. Thus, GENESEQP W93832 and Genbank U78294 give the sequence of human 15S lipoxygenase.
Microbial lipoxygenases are known from a yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a thermophilic actinomycete Thermoactinomyces vulgaris, from fungus Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium proliferatum and Gaeumannomyces graminis (Su and Oliw, J. Biological Chemistry, 273 (21), 13072-13079 (1998)). No isolated gene encoding a microbial lipoxygenase has been described.
The prior art describes various uses of lipoxygenase, e.g. as a food additive to bread dough or noodles.